Takin' the plunge

Re: Takin\' the plunge

I'll grill the recruiters at Sun N Fun, I'm sure they'll be there. From what I can tell, classes like English, Algebra, Humanities etc SHOULD transfer. That would nix a whole semester right there. If I have to stay the whole 5, then I might re-think and go PACE. That would push me back to at LEAST Jan next year. I don't mind logging the extra flight time, but if I have to take physics or algebra again, I'll shoot myself in the face.
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Grrr. Just read the fine print. Yeah, it would be the full 5 semesters. I would just have a LOT of free time. Time to start looking at other options..... HOPEFULLY, I can still get there for PACE in Jan.
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

Kell,

Once you get into the PACE you would be done in a semester right? What if you spoke to someone down there about finishing your Associate there? Just a thought, it seems redundant to go through all of your ratings again?

UACAT
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

Fine print from the FAQ on their website says that if you do ab initio, no matter whether you have transfer credits or prior ratings, it will still be 5 semesters since it is a structured program. They suggest using the extra time to study, fly or get a part time job. PACE is just one semester, but you have to have at least a commercial single (you can get your multi there now) and an Associate's. I have none of those as of right now. I would seem silly for me to spend two years and only be at about 100 more hours than I am now.
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

[ QUOTE ]
Fine print from the FAQ on their website says that if you do ab initio, no matter whether you have transfer credits or prior ratings, it will still be 5 semesters since it is a structured program. They suggest using the extra time to study, fly or get a part time job. PACE is just one semester, but you have to have at least a commercial single (you can get your multi there now) and an Associate's. I have none of those as of right now. I would seem silly for me to spend two years and only be at about 100 more hours than I am now.

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I agree. If I were you I would just finish my associates degree (I don't see why you'd have to pay through the nose for those ERAU distance learning classes, just finish it at a local community college or even San Juan for a fraction of the cost), finish up your commercial, and then apply for PACE. You would definitely save a lot of time and money that way.

I'm not really in the same situation as you but I was also considering both the ab initio and PACE. I have a college degree but just a few flight hours. If I did the ab initio I would have to go 65K+ into debt (the program+living expenses), but if I work full time, get my commercial locally and save money for PACE (which is do-able), I could do it all in the same amount of time (or less) without going into any debt at all. I would say that PACE makes a lot more sense for people with A) a college degree, or B) lots of flying experience. Just my two cents...
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

I agree if you have a lot of flying experience then PACE is the program for you but I think I might disagree with if you have a college degree and very little time your better off with PACE.




If you dont have any flying experience why not have Mesa teach you from scratch on up. The prices arent all that bad. At least compared to here in NYC. In Farmington they charged $109 for the Bonanza and $25 for the CFI. Here in NYC they would charge you 99 for a 172 and 42 for the CFI. So for me it would be cheaper to do my training at MAPD, and I would rather do my training in a Bonanza.

If I was in your shoes I would just do the ab initio program. Since you already have the degree you wont have any college classes, you will only have GS and flying. You could definitely get a job to pay for rent and food etc... So if you go threw Pace lets say you spend 20k on ratings and 15k for Pace. Thats already 35k. It might work out to be the same price or a little more if you do the ab initio program and you would be learning the "Mesa way of flying from ground up" but who knows if thats just marketing BS
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

I hear what you're saying fly, about doing all the training with Mesa, but where I live things aren't quite that expensive. I'm not sure exactly how MAPD bills its students, but I bet a substantial chunk is due up front so I would still have to take out a huge loan. I could maybe work a low-paying part-time job while I'm there but while I could maybe pay my bills and stuff with that I certainly couldn't pay the flight training costs.

Also, while I'm sure that I would get some of the classes waived I would still have to get that associates. I just can't see myself paying to get an associates when I already have a bachelors. The main reason though is the money, I would have at least 40k (I took out the living expenses) in debt with ab initio or zero debt with PACE. For me thats a huge difference...
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

My main problem is TIME. I just turned 29, so I feel age creeping on me. My job is getting old FAST, too. I've been working on this since late 2001, and I just now cracked 160 hours. I'm a little tired of spinning my wheels, and I just want to get the training over with. Problem with the local community college is that 1) flight ratings don't count for anything, they do at ERAU 2) I would have to take twice as many classes. Then there's the whole time thing. It would work out to about the same as going to San Juan. So, right now I'm looking at ATP, Ari Ben and Flight Saftey (drool, if only I were rich.....). After my ratings at one of those, I'm ONE class away from my AS at ERAU. We'll see what happens then. If I have a CFI job, cool. If not, I might go for a CFI spot at MAPD.
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

good luck getting a cfi job with them. i talked with a guy over the phone about instructing and they don't really hire any cfi's with wet certificates. i think their mins are 200 dual given. the guy told me that most of their cfi's have a lot of time instructing in barons when hired, many 500-1000hrs of dual given in type. he then recommended that i check out the pace program
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so who really knows.
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

My instructor (the one that just got hired at Airnet) applied for Mesa Airlines, and MAPD called and offered him an instructor job. How screwed up is that? More than likely I'll wind up instructing either here in Florida or back home in Memphis. If I've got more than 500TT, I have a line on a cushy VFR 135 job out west.
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Re: Takin\' the plunge

[ QUOTE ]
My main problem is TIME. I just turned 29, so I feel age creeping on me. My job is getting old FAST, too. I've been working on this since late 2001, and I just now cracked 160 hours. I'm a little tired of spinning my wheels, and I just want to get the training over with. Problem with the local community college is that 1) flight ratings don't count for anything, they do at ERAU 2) I would have to take twice as many classes. Then there's the whole time thing. It would work out to about the same as going to San Juan. So, right now I'm looking at ATP, Ari Ben and Flight Saftey (drool, if only I were rich.....). After my ratings at one of those, I'm ONE class away from my AS at ERAU. We'll see what happens then. If I have a CFI job, cool. If not, I might go for a CFI spot at MAPD.

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I see... Well, I just looked on the Ari Ben site and they have a 100 hour multi engine + commercial rating course. That would be pretty good for you, and they say it only takes 3 weeks
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Re: Takin\' the plunge

I'm looking into several different options right now. The only thing I'm sure of is that 1) I'm going to be out of Orlando by Aug and 2) I won't be in Farminton until at least Jan. Ari-Ben is a definite possibility. If they want the 250 BEFORE starting the comm program, I might just get my multi private from them, get the 100 hours of time building, then get the Multi comm. The time building hours would put me over the 250 for commercial training and give me more confidence in a twin. As of now I have 0 multi hours.

So, the earliest I would be at MAPD is Jan. Which could work out. If everyone from here gets an apt or something, I could slide into fsiflyer's spot when he leaves.
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Re: Takin\' the plunge

kell, to be honest, i don't think your really in a bad situation at all. 29 isn't that old. after college, i want to atp and did all my ratings. great place but i wouldn't recommend it for you. reason being, if you go to atp you pay the same price as if you had no ratings or flight time.i would condsider going to ari-ben and doing a multi engine add on to your certificate. go on the cross countires and do your initial comercial multiengine. then the single would just be an add on. basically what atp does but you could do it cheaper at ari-ben. i would continue with the online classes but not at erau. too expenisve. go through usvc. they have programs at about every flight school you can think of and your ratings count for credit.
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

Hi all..Joe here..I have been beating my brains out looking through all the different schools to go to. Currently I work for Southwest Airlines as a Ground Operations Supervisor..I have a lot of contact with our Captains and FO's...Mesa is highly praised by them. As far as "taking the plunge"...well I hope to get all info together to possibly attend this summer...also...has anybody heard of TAB Express..did some research on them..very confused here about their program.
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

First of all, from one SWA employee to another, welcome to the board! Second, stay FAR away from TAB Express. Check out their forum on the board, and you'll see a lot of discussions as to why. I've talked to several Capts and FOs at SWA that came from Mesa, too. They all said that it might not pay much, but it'll get the hours in.
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

We must be talking with the same Capt's..they told me the same thing.."get your ratings!!! The pay will come in time..as with any job"
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

I have to say that the only thing holding me back from attending this summer is if USair tanks. Wouldn't Mesa lose a big chuck of its flying. And if that happens Im sure there will be a hiring freeze and a 19 month program will take more like 36 months to get a job or longer. What are your guys thoughts on that.
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

If US Air tanks? I think that is a given.

What if scenarios are common in all types of training. What if a person went to Delta Academy and they weren't hiring after 19 months? Just like 10 years ago when everyone was taking computer building courses. The market became so saturated with techs that the graduates were stuck flipping burgers. Everything is up to chance when you plan for a career that is 2 yrs of training away.
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

I'm under the impression that a lot of the U flying (particularly on the jet side) is being done by U furloughees through a jets for jobs arrangement. If the jets go away, I imagine the jobs do too. Personally, I'm not sweating even the loss of United to Mesa's fortunes; I could just as easily see Mesa flying feed for jetBlue in such a scenario. Remember, a UA or U going down means greater demand and less competition for who's left.

There's also a question of how large does SWA need to get before they hire a regional partner, but that's a topic for another thread.
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

I guess that what I was trying to say,,,,no need to worry about it. All the majors are trying to copy SWA's style with regional jets. Sounds like there will be plenty of Capt and FO ASM's to me. Plus we are always hearing of new startup regionals every other week
 
Re: Takin\' the plunge

This is a fairly large topic on another Mesa board. Granted, I take anything said over there with a grain of salt since everyone is so bitter and jaded. Personally, I don't think JO is going to let his profits dwindle just b/c an airline goes under. I'm sure he's got some kind of scheme brewing "just in case." It probably won't be long befor jetBlue starts taking in regional partners, but with their EMBs coming on soon, not sure if they will or not. AirTran already has regional partners (was Air Wis, but I think it changed). Mesa is in the process of shifting most of its flying to either America West or United. America West is doing fairly well, and United might go under, but probably not anytime in the next couple of years. US Air could potentially be gone by the end of summer depending on what happens in Philly after May.

As far as will there be jobs? Who knows, but you can "what if?" this all day long. Thing happen all the time, but if you don't take a chance, how will you ever know?
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